The following application is related to the field of sensors to detect life inside of a building in order to avoid life-threatening situations due to fire or gas leaks.
Every year, people, children and pets die because they are left by themselves inside their homes (or even inside a room) where situations like fire or gas leaks may occur and dramatically increase the risk of severe physical damage or death. These deaths are barely ever premeditated or the result of malicious intent. Most people leave the room or building knowing that they left life inside it but they believe they will do whatever they need to do quickly and be back before anything happens. Distractions like getting caught up in a conversation could cause a person to lose track of time, exposing the life inside the building to greater harm.
Some new parents or pet owners are not accustomed to the daily routine a parent should have when it comes to having their child with them, or supervised, at all times. The life inside the building can fall asleep and not make any sounds or noise, making the parent or owner unaware that they have a pet or a baby inside the building. They leave the building and go to work or to do their daily activities and expose the baby or pet to the risk of the building catching fire or toxic gases being leaked, causing harm or death to the life.
There are also cases where caregivers are with seniors or disabled people. Because they are adults and not children, the caregiver can have the false impression that they can withstand dramatic changes in temperatures or may be able to identify and handle a dangerous situation and will not be harmed, leaving them unattended inside the buildings while they perform their daily task. But just like infants and pets, these situations can severely affect these adults, causing harm or death. Some of these people do not have the ability to perform actions like opening a door or lowering a window. Some might not be able to make a call or ask for help.
In many cases, children die inside buildings or rooms when going inside by themselves, to get a toy or play, and became trapped inside it with no means to get out. This mostly happens when parents, believing they are doing the right thing, use locks that may not open from the inside. Unfortunately, these children, go inside and shut the door and can't come back out. Because these children in most cases are unattended, parents don't know the child went inside the room. Parents believe the child is inside playing and are not aware of a dangerous situation that may be occurring in the room.
Many more die due to an increase of toxic gas levels inside rooms without people noticing. This mostly happens when people leave running vehicles inside closed garages with life inside or in home with appliances that use gas tanks, such as stoves. Because there is no ventilation, levels of gas increase and cause death. Unfortunately, a great amount of people believe that having the air conditioner on will somehow filter the toxic gas and maintain harmless levels. But this is not true because air conditioning systems are not designed to filter toxic gas, just to provide cold air by getting air from the outside and cooling it down without filtration.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that can detect life inside a building or room and that helps prevent harm or death to live beings that cannot act on their own.